Artist, philosopher, cop. These three terms describe my interests, experience, education and training. While many perceive these foci of my life and persona disparate, they actually share three traits that challenge and excite my mind: All three require analysis, persuasion and creativity.  I find that the three passions of my life all require the need to analyze the situation for the best possible outcome, persuade those affected to understand my position, and a need to be creative in implementing the other two.

The artist aspect is in graphic arts, simply put, visual propaganda. I analyze the problem of visually representing a client’s product, service or idea within certain constraints. Then I persuade first the client that the idea is the best one, then my client’s potential customer that my client is the best choice for that product, service or idea. Creativity is present in the creation of the visual art and in the method of persuasion.

As a philosopher, I analyze the arguments of others and determine if their conclusion follows. If the conclusion does not, then I must persuasively argue why. If it does, I must be willing to be persuaded. The creativity of thought and analysis, as well as creatively expressing my arguments, is just as important as the analysis and persuasion itself.

As a cop, I analyze a situation, the law, and people – sometimes under great stress and usually less than desirable circumstances. When on a scene, I must analyze quickly and soundly, come to conclusions and then persuade victims, witnesses, other officers and supervisors to those conclusions. This analysis must be sound and accurate because the analysis that must be made in a few moments will be dissected and analyzed itself for months, with the result presented in court, where my ability to be persuasive again will be needed in defense of my analysis. Creativity is especially crucial in law enforcement. Creativity is every bit a part of being a cop as are analysis and persuasion; often times it is a cop’s creativity that saves lives or resolves a confrontation with optimum results.

The education I am seeking furthers my fascination with analysis, persuasion, and creativity because these three faculties are necessary to the area of thought that I wish to explore: the philosophy of law enforcement. I see this concept as the ethical application of law, thus blending the philosophy of law, ethics, and the law itself. Through pursuing this concept and concentrating on each school of thought, I believe the whole of the law enforcement industry can be impacted, and can bring much needed analysis and conceptualization to an area of our society that is currently wholly represented by social sciences. Analysis, persuasion, and creativity are  expected in art and philosophy; I believe it is time they are applied to law enforcement as well.